Boston Celtics rookies Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards shine at Summer League: 10 things we learned

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/07/boston-celtics-rookies-grant-williams-carsen-edwards-shine-at-summer-league-10-things-we-learned.html



Boston Celtics rookies Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards shine at Summer League: 10 things we learned




Posted Jul 14, 1:54 PM


By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com



After four dominant games during the Las Vegas Summer League’s regular-season stretch, the Boston Celtics ended their run with a 94-88 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Despite the loss, the Celtics showed flashes of a lot of intriguing characteristics and attributes, particularly from their rookies. Here are 10 things we learned from a week-and-a-half in the desert.


1. Defined roles can make a big difference.


One of the issues with last year’s Celtics team, at least early, appeared to be the lack of defined roles. Players didn’t seem certain what was expected of them, and the combinations of young stars never seemed to fit.

On this year’s Summer League team, the difference was obvious (albeit in a completely different situation), Most of the players who will play for the Celtics this season didn’t appear to feel any pressure to be something they weren’t. The rest of the roster understood their best chance to catch on with a roster elsewhere was to be a good teammate and show how they could fit into a team’s culture.

Ultimately, a horrific shooting percentage in the quarterfinals doomed the Celtics, but a cohesive unit with well-defined roles proved pretty successful over the last week-plus.


2. Grant Williams makes teammates better.

Grant Williams’ plus/minus kept skyrocketing throughout the week, hitting +82 for the regular-season slate before falling to +74 after Boston’s quarterfinal loss to Memphis.

On the one hand, Summer League plus/minus isn’t exactly a reliable way to measure a player’s future success in the league. On the other, Williams does a lot of little things to impact the game. He sets solid screens, cleans up on the offensive boards and defends up and down well. As a passer, he has good vision and nice anticipation.


The continued progress of Williams’ 3-point shot will be important, but he’s in line for major minutes immediately.


3. Williams’ close-outs could use some work.

One area of Williams’ game that needs work: His closeouts to the 3-point line. Oddly, Williams struggles to stay in control running out to a shooter. On multiple occasions over the last week, he went flying by an offensive player on a pump fake. Another example below shows awkward footwork, which takes him out of the play.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1150145906370469888
Ben Pfeifer
@Ben_Pfeifer_
If I can knock one thing about Grant so far in this SL, his closeouts have been very poor. Footwork, foot speed are bad here.

3
11:52 PM - Jul 13, 2019

Williams is a high-IQ player and seems likely to figure this out at some point, but for now, it could be a point of emphasis as he transitions to a league where the floor is constantly very spaced.


4. Carsen Edwards is going to be ready for minutes right away.

The Celtics officially announced their four-year deal with Edwards on Sunday, and it’s easy to see why they wanted to lock in a longer-term commitment. Edwards’ ability to score should translate immediately, and he’s a hard-nosed, competitive defender despite his lack of elite size. As noted by Boston Sports Journal’s Brian Robb, Edwards even made Celtics Summer League history.


Brian Robb

@BrianTRobb
Carsen Edwards finishes the week with the highest points per game average for any Celtic in summer league since 2004 (19.4 ppg).

1,404
5:03 AM - Jul 14, 2019


Brad Stevens has a history of finding use for undersized point guards who play hard and get buckets.


5. Tremont Waters is an absolute warrior.

Waters showed a slew of nice traits over the last four games, including a tight handle, quickness and a high basketball IQ.

Unfortunately, the big story for Water was the apparent suicide of his father -- Edward Waters was found dead in a West Haven hotel on Thursday. Waters played a few hours later. Two days later, Waters was still in Las Vegas -- family in tow to show support -- and he played in the quarterfinals with what we can only imagine must have been an unimaginably heavy heart.

Waters will at worst have a two-way contract with the Celtics, and he might end up getting guaranteed money. In either case, one has to imagine it’s a small blessing to have some professional certainty and a couple of months to grieve with family before returning to training camp.


6. All Javonte Green needs to be an NBA role player is something close to a 3-point shot.

Green showed a lot of really promising attributes -- explosive athleticism, great defensive timing and IQ, disruptive hands in passing lanes and aggressive forays to the basket (and to the free-throw line).

Unfortunately, Green showed very little in terms of floor spacing, which is what would take his game to the next level comfortably. If he could hit even 34 percent of his triples in the NBA, he has real rotation player potential. At (nearly) 26 years old, he may never develop a reliable jumper, but if he does, he looks promising.


7. Robert Williams has progressed (it took a little time to show it).

Williams looked out of position both defensively and on the glass early in the week, but as the games went on, he began rotating better and boxing out more effectively. By the end of the week, Williams looked like challenger for major minutes among Boston’s bigs, particularly since he has easily the most defensive upside of any center on the roster.


8. Timelord can PASS.

We knew Williams could dish, but he showed the extent of his ability to sling the ball around in half-court sets.

One of his nicest passes occurred in Saturday’s loss: This cross-court dish to Max Strus at the top of the key for a triple.

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1150149432677060608
Boston Celtics

@celtics
Time Lord making it look easy

859
12:06 AM - Jul 14, 2019


Williams won’t space the floor (Morrison had no intention of allowing him to toss up mid-range jumpers), but he should be able to direct the offense from the top of the key.


9. We should all be grateful for this photo of Tacko Fall.

Five Summer League games didn’t really make or break the case for Tacko Fall: NBA Player, but he’s certainly entertaining, and he’s a crowd favorite.



Yoni
@OriginalYoni
This picture is not photoshopped.

Carsen Edwards (6’1) and Tacko Fall (7’7)

1,843
7:48 PM - Jul 12, 2019


Fall will remain with the Celtics for training camp on an Exhibit 10 contract, which allows him to join the team until the season. With Guerschon Yabusele gone (more on that in a second), Fall has a chance to make the roster if the Celtics want to experiment with someone unique.


10. The Celtics have too many good players to waste a roster spot.

Midway through the week, the Celtics bid Guerschon Yabusele a fond farewell. Yabusele never really appeared to be in NBA shape, and he wasn’t effective enough to play at his weight. While the Celtics last year appreciated Yabusele’s cheerleader status, this year’s squad has too many promising young players to let a roster spot simply go to a supportive bench player.

The Celtics needed to see more from Yabusele, and they just never did. Best of luck to a fan favorite overseas.



bob
MY NOTE: Did anybody else notice that about Grant's close outs?  Brad is definitely going to want his players to close out at the arc.  


.

I didn’t notice the close outs, I did notice he always puts a body on someone as soon as a shot goes up....

Fouls were in an issue in summer league. I’m not sure if that’s a problem for him or an issue with being physical in that setting.

Add me to the list of fans who thought that this year's summer team was very impressive. And, our first pick did not even play a second due to an injury.

The entire team hustled from the beginning to the end. Looked like they had a great time playing together and as a result they were fun to watch.

I can only hope that the varsity took note and can find their way back to enjoying themselves like they seemed to have two seasons ago. Last year's team was about the least fun to watch as any I can remember in many, many years.

wideclyde wrote:Add me to the list of fans who thought that this year's summer team was very impressive.  And, our first pick did not even play a second due to an injury.

The entire team hustled from the beginning to the end.  Looked like they had a great time playing together and as a result they were fun to watch.

I can only hope that the varsity took note and can find their way back to enjoying themselves like they seemed to have two seasons ago.  Last year's team was about the least fun to watch as any I can remember in many, many years.

I agree, the Summer League team brought back the fun to watch factor to Celtics basketball.  I believe a lot of it comes from understanding your role and not playing outside of that roll.  The team last season had too many players wanting a bigger role to the detriment of team play (and team success, it turns out).

I hope that any returning players from last season's team understand their roles and buy in to the system Brad is preaching.  If they don't, send them packing ASAP.

gyso